Ejector for rotating breech automatic guns



J. V. SHEPHERD EJECTOR FOR ROTATING BREECH AUTOMATIC GUNS Sept. 24', 1957 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed March 25, 1954 w Invchior B flnmas V Shepherd 9/5 ifll/ Qw Attorneya Sept. 24, 1957 J. v. SHEPHERD 2,807,114

EJECTOR FOR ROTATING BREECH AUTOMATIC GUNS Filed March 25, 1954 s Sheets-Sheet 2 Inventor dun-Lea V. Shepherd 1! 9% awazaflw Affiorneys P 1957 J. v. SHEPHERD 2,807,114

EJECTOR FOR ROTATING BREECH AUTOMATIC GUNS Filed March 25, 1954 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 Invent.)-

Atborlwey' 2,807,114 Patented Sept. 24, 1957 [ice 2,807,114 EJECTORFOR ROTATlEggSREECH AUTOMATIC James Victor Shepherd, Farnborough, England, assignor to the Minister of Supply in Her Majestys Gevernment of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, London, England Application March 25, 1954, Serial No. 418,708

13 Claims. 01. 42-68) This invention relates to rotating breech automatic guns, more especially to such guns having a multi-chambered breech to which cartridges are delivered singly from a step-by-step continuously fed sprocket driven disintegrating belt.

Such guns are commonly constructed so that in one position of the breech one breech chamber is partially loaded, in a second position it is fully loaded, in a third the cartridge is fired and in a fourth position of the chamber the spent cartridge case is ejected. Also the arrangement of the parts of the gun is usually such that the cases pass between the teeth axially of the sprocket during ejection, the momentum of the cases being relied upon to carry them clear of the teeth of the sprocket during the momentary pauses in its rotation.

However, ejection of the cases from the breech may, and in fact often does, get out of time with the sprocket and in consequence the sprocket teeth strike the partly ejected case. This may jam the gun and even cause damage suific-ient to make it unworkable. Also, even if ejection between the sprocket teeth continues satisfactorily, the cases fly at random and may be lost.

According to the invention a spent cartridge case ejector for a rotating breech automatic gun comprises means for trapping the spent cartridge case during its rearward travel after its removal from the breech a deflector for imparting lateral motion to the case so to eject it from the trap in a direction approximately normal to its direction of travel in entering the trap and means for driving the deflector. The deflector is advantageously operatively connected with the live cartridge belt feed mechanism.

The trap may be a chamber having a transverse wall against which the ejected case strikes after leaving the breech, the deflector being housed in the chamber and movable to and from a rest position in which it lies clear :of the path of motion of the case entering the trap. It may be driven by the belt feed mechanism at least in the sense to deflect the trapped case from the trap, means being provided for returning the deflector to its rest position. The deflector preferably lies at rest flush with the wall of the trap and pivots about an axis parallel to the breech axis, being spring urged to its rest position. In one form the pivoted deflector may have pivotally attached to it about an axis parallel to its own pivot axis an auxiliary blade for engaging the case, an eifective part of the blade extending on either side of its pivotal attachment to the deflector, a stop being provided on the trap Wall for engaging, so as to limit or prevent any movement of, one end of the blade when the deflector pivots whereby, after such engagement, the other end of the blade will move in advance of the deflector and thus increase the amount of travel of the case for a given movement of the deflector. The arrangement may be such that the deflector and blade move as one through a limited angle before the stop engages one end of the blade.

The deflector may be actuated directly by the live cartridge belt driving sprocket.

Means may be provided, such as spring loaded catches,

for preventing cases rebounding axially from the trap towards the. breech or from re-entering the trap after being ejected laterally from it.

One form of ejector according to the invention for use on a 30 mm. shell firing gun will now be described with reference to the accompanying diagrammatic drawings in which:

Figure 1 is a perspective view showing the. general ar-. rangement of the breech and belt feed mechanism,

Figure 2 is a view in perspective on a larger scale of the housing for the belt feed and the ejector,

Figure 3 is an exploded view of the components associated with the deflector,

Figure 4 is a view in perspective of the deflector and Figures 5 and 6 are end views of the housing for the belt feed, and deflector from the barrel end of the gun showing the functioning of the ejector.

Referring to Figure 1 the parts of the gun shown are the barrel 1, the rotating breech and its housing 2, 2 the housing 3 for the belt feed and novel ejector and a chassis member 4 on which the parts of the gun are fitted.

Referring to Figures 2 to 6, the housing 3 comprises a chute 5 through which is fed the belt of live shells (not shown), a trap 6 where shell cases are momentarily trapped after their removal from the breech 2 and a.

cartridge belt driving sprocket 7 (Fig. 5 rotatable on an axle 8 having a tongu'ed end 9 which fits in a socket (not shown) in the axle of the rotating breech 2 so that the sprocket and breech rotate as one when the gun is work ing. The ejector also comprises a deflector 10 on which is pivoted a blade 11, the deflector itself pivoting on the spindle 12. The pitch of the sprocket teeth and the at". rrangement of the trap in relation to them are such that they, and the deflector are clear of the path of a spent case entering the trap. The spindle 12 has an enlarged, part 13 carrying a torsion spring 14, the end 15 of the spring engaging a slot 16 in the port 13 and the end 17 engaging an car 18 on the deflector 10. Also provided is a hexagonal key 19 on the spindle 12 and a co-operating locking plate 20 so that by rotating the spindle 12 and locking it in position the spring may be loaded to and maintained under a given torsion. A screw adjustable stop 21 is mounted on the trap 6 for engagement with the lobe 22 of the blade 11. As shown in Figure 5, the deflector normally lies flush with the wall of the trap.

Referring to Figures 5 and 6, when the gun is working the sprocket 7 is rotated anti-clockwise to feed a belt of live shells (not shown) through the chute 5 in the direction of the arrow A (Figure 5). After firing and removal from the rotating breech, the spent shell case reaches the position in the trap shown in broken lines in Figs, 2, 5 and 6 and is ejected from the trap from this position. In conventional guns, spent shell cases after removal from the breech (Fig. 1) pass axially at random between sprocket teeth as at 23a, 23b (Fig. 5). According to the invention the rearwardly moving shell case is momentarily trapped in the trap 6 after its removal from the breech, its axial travel being limited by the end wall 24 of the chute 5 (Fig. 2) and at the instant or just before the shell case strikes the wall 24, the incoming tooth 23b moves through slots 27 in the wall 26 of the ejector and drives the deflector it] against the shell case, which is in the position indicated in broken lines in Fig. 5, to bring the lobe 22 thereof against the stop 21. On further rm tation of the sprocket as shown in Figure 6 the lobe 25 of the blade 11 moves rapidly ahead of the deflector 10 and pushes the case from the trap. As will be seen, this motion of the deflector is against the influence of the spring 14 and When the tooth 23b, in its rotation, passes out of engagement with the deflector the latter is returned by the spring 14 to its rest position against the wall 26 of the trap.

I'claim: 1. A spent cartridge case ejector for a rotating breech automatic gun including a cartridge belt feed mechanism, comprising a trap for trapping momentarily the case during its rearward travel after its removal frorn'the breech anda defiectormountedfor movement into contact with a case in said trap, said deflector being driven by said belt feed mechanism against the trapped case to impart lateral motion to the case and eject it from the trap in a dimotion-substantially normal to its direction of rearward travel in entering the trap. ,2. An ejector as-claimed in claim 1 in which the de flectoris d'riven by said feed mechanism intermittently in step .with the removal 'of spent cases'from the breech. 3. 'An ejector as claimed in claim 2 in which the trap is a chamber having'a transverse end wall against which the ejected case strikes and the deflector is mounted in the. chamber normally in a rest position and in which it lies clear of the path of motion of the case entering the trap. for movement to eject a case from the trap.

4. An ejector as claimed in claim -3 comprising an auxiliary blade pivoted to said deflector about an axis parallel to the deflector pivot axis, an effective part of the blade'extendi'ng on either side of its pivot axis, and a step on the Wall of the trap for engaging said blade so as to limit the motion of one .end of the blade when the deflector pivots,.whereby, after such engagement the other end of the blade is maintained in contact with the spent cas'ebut moves in advance of the deflector so as to increase the lateral motion imparted to the case.

5. An ejector as claimed in claim 4 in which the pivot axis for the deflector is substantially parallel with the path of motion of the case entering the trap.

,6. AfCombiriation of a live cartridge belt feed mechanism for a rotating breech automatic gun with an ejector as claimed in claim 1, said feed mechanism being drivingly connected with the deflector to drive it at least in a direction'to eject the spent cases from the trap.

i 7. A,combination as claimed in claim 6 in which said trap comprises a chamber having a transverse end wall againstwhich the ejected case strikes and the deflector is mounted in the chamber normally in a rest position in which it lies clear of the path of motion of the case entering the trap for movement to eject a case from the trap.

8. A combination as claimed in claim 7 comprising an auxiliary blade pivoted to the deflector about an axis parallel to the deflector pivot axis, an efiective part of the blade extending on either side of its pivot axis and a stop being provided on the wall of the trap for engaging so as to limit the motion oi one end of the blade when the deflector pivots, whereby, after such engagement, the other end of the blade is maintained in contact with the spent case but "moves in advance of the deflector so as to increase the lateral motion imparted to the case.

9. A combination as claimed in claim 8 in'whieh the deflector is pivoted about an axis substantially parallel with the path of motion of the case entering the trap.

10. A combination of a live cartridge belt feed mechanism for a rotating breech automatic gun, of the type having sprockets for driving a disintegrating belt of live cartridges, With an ejector as claimed in claim 1, in which the deflector is driven directly by the sprockets.

. for driving connection with the sprockets thereby it moves against and ejects a spent case from the trap.

12. A combination as claimed in claim 11 comprising an auxiliary blade pivoted to the deflector about an axis parallel to the deflector pivot axis, an eflective part of the blade extending on either side of its pivot axis and stop on the wall of the trap for engaging so as to limit the motion of one end of the blade when the deflector pivots, whereby, after such engagement, the other end of the blade is maintained in contact with the spent case but moves in advance of the'deflector so as to increase the lateral motion imparted to the case. 7

' 13. A combination as claimed in claim 12in which the Joyce July 5, 1938 Eastman July 28, 1953! 

